Many municipalities are adopting traffic circles rather than traffic-signal management of vehicle/pedestrian intersections. In a conventional traffic-signal intersection, the flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic is controlled by traffic signals. Typically the traffic flow in one direction, say, North/South (N/S) is stopped while the traffic signal indicates it is okay for vehicles and pedestrians to travel East/West (E/W). Later, E/W traffic is stopped and N/S traffic is allowed to proceed. There are typically no barriers in place to prevent accidents and the system relies on the correct operation of the traffic signal and the cooperation of pedestrians and drivers based on traffic regulation protocols.
Traffic circles create a blockage of pedestrian and vehicular traffic directly through the intersection. Instead, vehicular traffic flow is diverted into circular-travel lanes where all vehicles travel in the same circular direction (e.g. counter-clockwise as viewed from above). There are no traffic signals stopping vehicles or pedestrians moving N/S or E/W. Traffic-circle protocols, based on driver/pedestrian cooperation, serve to control traffic flow.
There is, however, some risk of accident and injury associated with traffic circles. For example, someone entering a traffic circle from an extreme-left lane in a north-bound direction and wishing to leave from the next exit (e.g. an east-bound lane) would have to change lanes quickly in order to do so. Other vehicles in lanes to that driver's right could prevent that lane change setting up a risk of sideways collision or for the first driver to miss his/her exit and have to proceed around the traffic circle while attempting to change lanes. Also, pedestrians are typically served by a cross-walk pattern perpendicular to vehicular traffic flow. However, since there are no stop light traffic signals, pedestrians crossing a cross-walk are at risk of being struck by a vehicle entering or exiting the traffic circle.
The invention is a system and method of use that provides added safety to both drivers and pedestrians who are traversing a traffic-circle intersection.